The Croatian newspapers are swarming with warnings of the coming snow. It will be horrible, we are told. And we must be ready for it. It is supposed to arrive in a couple of short days, but its arrival has been trumpeted for at least a weak. And ever more loudly. A more careful look at the plethora of articles about the snow shows that the warnings are actually not warnings at all. Rather, they are enthusiastic welcomes of the snow. It is not that anyone wants it as such, for it is a nuisance for everyone except children and the most enthusiastic among skiers, but the return to some sort of normalcy. Whence the “real” in “real winter” that has been bantered about for years. If the winter happened to be real enough, nobody would be looking forward to the coming snow. More likely than not, this is how it will be the coming years, as well. The promise of real winter, including the snow, will be trumpeted ever more loudly. By and by, the promise will become shrill with panic. As well as feverish longing for a modicum of normalcy in the weather.